Jimmy Kimmel doubles down on criticism of Trump town hall: ‘NBC pulled a very sneaky move’

Jimmy Kimmel has doubled down on its criticism of NBC after the network scheduled a town hall with Donald Trump, at the same time as a previously scheduled Joe Biden event.

Trump and Biden appeared in simultaneous town halls on Thursday night – Trump’s on NBC, Biden’s on ABC.

The two presidential candidates were originally supposed to debate each other, but after Trump contracted coronavirus, the debate moved to a virtual format, which Trump refused. Biden then scheduled a town hall with ABC on Thursday at 8pm. That event was announced on 8 October. Six days later, NBC revealed plans to host a simultaneous event with Trump.

“Many are wondering why NBC would schedule this at the same time as Biden’s town hall instead of on another night, or even just in another time slot, so we could see what both candidates have to say,” Kimmel said on Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“The answer to the question is: NBC sucks. And you should never watch that channel. It was a real peacock block, is what it was.”

Kimmel then mused that seeing Trump back in prime-time was “like taking a time machine back to 2004, when he was just a blowhard reality TV host and nothing more”.

NBC’s decision to host Trump’s town hall at the same time as Biden’s was met with a backlash, with the hashtag #boycottNBC trending on Twitter after the announcement.

Kimmel on Wednesday devoted part of his show to joining the criticism, stating that there was “no good reason to hold these events simultaneously”.